This collection of original articles by leading specialists in child development brings together work from diverse backgrounds and disciplines to establish, for the first time, the importance of the preschool period (eighteen months to four years)for parent-child attachment relationships. Balancing theoretical, research-oriented, and clinical papers, Attachment in the Preschool Years provides valuable data and approaches for those working in a wide range of fields, including developmental psychology and psychopathology, child psychiatry, family therapy, pediatrics, nursing, and early...

In this timely collection, biological and behavioral scientists address questions emerging from new research about the origins and interconnections of altruism and aggression within and across species. They explore the genetic underpinnings of affiliative and aggressive orientations as well as the biological correlates of these behaviors. They consider environmental variables--family patterns, childrearing practices--that influence prosocial and antisocial behaviors. And they examine internal processes such as empathy, socio-inferential abilities, and cognitive attributions, that regulate...

Although there has been a significant increase in studies of stress and coping processes in recent years, researchers have often approached these topics from rather narrow and constrained perspectives. Furthermore, little communication has occurred across disciplines and research directions, resulting in the emergence of several relatively isolated literatures. An outgrowth of the Eleventh Biennial West Virginia University Conference on Life-Span Development, this volume emphasizes two major themes: the importance of taking a life-span approach to the study of stress and coping, and the...

Developmental psychopathology seeks to unravel the complex connections among biological, psychological, and social-contextual aspects of normal and abnormal development. This volume presents the core and cutting-edge principles of the field in an integrative, accessible manner. The investigatory lens is focused on the primary context in which children develop--the family. Reviewing current research in such areas as attachment and parenting styles, marital functioning, and parental depression, the volume examines how these variables may influence developmental processes across a range of...

Why do some children grow into resilient, adaptive adults, while others develop serious psychological problems? What are the dynamic processes and pathways that underlie normal and abnormal development? And how can the answers to these questions inform efforts to decrease both the prevalence and the severity of psychological distress? Focusing on the primary context in which children develop--the family--this volume unravels the complex connections among biological, psychological, and social-contextual processes that influence adaptation in childhood and adolescence. Explicating the basic...